CALABASAS HILLS, Calif. -- Lynx Photonic Networks (www.LynxPN.com), the leading photonic switch company, introduced the LightLEADER( 3701, an intelligent all-optical protection switch for carriers and service providers that provides dual-ended protection for a bi-directional optical channel. Demonstrated at the recent Telecom '04 Show in Las Vegas, the switch also enables end-to-end protection of the entire channel, including the fiber link, optical amplifiers and transponders.

The LL-3701 can be configured to work in either in 1+1 mode or 1:1 mode with extra-traffic. "Because that bandwidth can be used to sell extra traffic, carriers and service providers can generate additional revenue from the same infrastructure," said Abe Queller, Lynx's vice president of customer applications and support. "When the switch is not in protection mode, there's an extra line there that can be used for transmitting data."

To synchronize the switching of both ends of the bi-directional channel, a highly resilient inband signaling mechanism is used. This new feature being incorporated into Lynx's entire line of protection switches allows autonomous dual ended (bi-directional) protection switching operation and facilitates rapid automated optical protection in well under 50 milliseconds, while removing the need for an additional dedicated link for signaling. Also included is a remotely programmable revert timer, which supports auto revert, and additional external management control for operations such as manual forced switching, prevent switching, and revert.

In addition, remotely programmable power level thresholds with built-in hysteresis help detect certain types of signal degradation and enable users to conveniently fine-tune the failure detection logic. The LL-3701 can also be configured to trigger automatic switchover to protection when it detects failure in the optical channel.

Housed in a slim 1U rack-mountable enclosure, the new plug-and-play LL-3701 -- which can be fully managed through an SNMP (simple network management protocol) a command line interface -- is a flexible platform that offers a cost-effective, quickly deployable add-on solution for optical channel or fiber protection.

Like all LightLEADER systems, the LL-3701 is based on Lynx's unique PLC (planar lightwave circuit) solid-state technology, so it has no moving parts and is ultra-reliable; is data-rate and format independent; and comes with an intuitive graphical user interface.

Lynx Photonic Networks